


Thus with a Kiss I die

by Y00ngify



Category: EXO (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Angst, ChanBaek - Freeform, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romeo and Juliet References, Roommates, Smut, all theatre kids are a little gay whether they admit it or not believe me i know, baekhyun slowly falls for chanyeol, chanyeol has a crush, eventual everything im sorry, this might take a while
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-04 06:40:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12163533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Y00ngify/pseuds/Y00ngify
Summary: Think Romeo and Juliet, the most romantic play on the goddamn planet, with an all-male cast. Things could get messy, or juicy, or the entire operation could just go horribly wrong.





	1. Day 1

Baekhyun loved the school auditorium. Every time he walked through the polished double doors and inhaled the ancient smell of the largest indoor space on campus, he felt content. His head was filled with memories of the times he spent with his friends in close proximity, and they always left him grinning silently. There was that seat in the 8th aisle in which he fell asleep on Dae’s shoulder during a particularly long dress rehearsal for The Glass Menagerie. There was that plastered and painted dent in the wall which met its doom after a frustrating rehearsal for Kris involving some damaged side lights. There was that greasy spot of God knows what on the slick blue curtains which nobody thought the director would notice. And, of course, there was that corner in which he shared his first (and last) kiss with Taehyung, a cringe-worthy experience pretty much forgotten and gladly exchanged for a close friendship instead. 

And even after spending so many wonderful days and nights in the theater, Baekhyun still felt a bubble of nervous anxiety rise in in his stomach. In his opinion, auditions were the hardest and worst part of being an actor, all the competitive atmosphere gave him a bad feeling. Before the boys in the department developed unbreakable friendships, envy and rivalry plagued the group. He still remembered the day he was cast in his very first role during his first year at the school. In the winter, Baekhyun was cast as Jack Kelly in the school’s production of Newsies, and for the entire season, he could practically feel the death glares on his back, especially the ones from Tao and Luhan. Thankfully, the two had graduated that same year and Baekhyun could breathe freely the following autumn. 

Now, Baekhyun walked down the aisle of seats, seemingly gliding along an ocean of chairs and dropped his backpack on the floor next to Jongdae’s. He was early. Really early, auditions wouldn’t start for at least another 30 minutes, but Baekhyun couldn’t help quickening his pace on the way to the theater after the last bell signaled an end to classes. He shuffled up the stage stairs and made his way to the dressing room backstage, passing a tired-looking Sehun and grinning devilishly in his direction.

“Did you even sleep last night?” Baekhyun wickedly called to the staggering boy.

“Baekhyun, you little shit, you know I can’t sleep before auditions, let me live.” Sehun replied, doing his best to sound normal and failing to stifle a yawn in the process. 

Baekhyun snorted and pushed the dressing room door, already expecting to find Jongdae and Jongin fucking around with the swords from the weapons cabinet that was finally unlocked. Unlocked for the purpose of the show, of course, because Baekhyun would never, ever dream of picking the lock with Chanyeol to have a fake duel tournament with the boys in the middle of the night. Snickering at the recollection, he made his way to the bathroom, noticing the two said boys were nowhere in sight. Just as he was about to open the door, it swung open and Chanyeol nearly collided with him.

“Aish Christ Chan, look down every so often you freaking giant.” Baekhyun swatted at his friend’s shoulder and slipped past him. Chanyeol just smirked and exaggeratingly rubbed his arm.

“You didn’t even bother knocking, you short ass,” he smiled and mocked Baekhyun’s annoyed tone, but briskly walked away before the older boy could attack him.   
30 minutes later, a large group of boys of all ages sat directly in front of the stage, chattering and filling out audition forms. Yoongi, who had the privilege of assistant directing this show and sitting at the head table with the theatre teacher, let the group of friends know that his headcount amounted to 60 people more or less. Baekhyun knew that the autumn main stages usually attracted the most people, but for a straight play, 60 people at the audition was absolutely insane. He blamed it on the well-known title and felt that same bubble of anxiety resurface. The only thing that helped distract him was overhearing Minseok laughing at what Jongdae was ranting about. 

“I still can’t believe he finally chose to do a Shakespeare play without our sister-school. An all-male cast is gonna be fucking WILD! Can you even imagine Baek?” 

Yeah, Romeo and Juliet was going to be something very interesting. Very interesting indeed.


	2. She Speaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanyeol neever thought he'd be this stressed out at a simple audition. He never gets performance anxiety. And yet the boy sitting a few feet away could prove him wrong. Harboring feelings for his best friend could make this entire situation so much worse.

Chanyeol had his fair share of auditions, and he was confident enough to say that he didn’t get audition anxiety. Ever.

Ok but why were his hands shaking??

He rubbed his palms together and ran jittery fingers through his curly locks. For some reason his foot couldn’t stop bouncing at a nervous pace. His cheeks were on fire while his mouth simultaneously felt frozen as he swiped his tongue over his chapped lips. He felt feverish and oh my God this is what stage fright feels like, doesn’t it? His entire system felt like it was shutting down for some unknown goddamn reason. 

Well no, not exactly unknown. 

He felt on edge the entire day thinking about going down to the auditorium after classes. Going down to the auditorium and seeing Baekhyun.   
Baekhyun.

He thought his fucking head was going to explode.

Baekhyun of all people. Baekhyun his sworn best friend after the incident with the weapon cabinet that night during their second year. Baekhyun who he hadn’t seen all summer. Baekhyun who he realized he was developing feelings for after one particularly long FaceTime call. Baekhyun who might as well drown him for fucks sake.

It wasn’t audition nerves, it was the fact that Baekhyun was sitting just a couple feet away from him. Seeing him in the dressing room earlier left Chanyeol feeling like he had a tense bundle of anxiety stuck in his chest, and now the nerves were amplified knowing he would have to audition in front of him. In the past, he thought nothing of it. Baekhyun just happened to be one of his close friends who he probably wouldn’t have minded hooking up with under the right circumstances but that was it. He hated the way his feelings for the older boy bloomed over the summer into something that would only create distractions. And it’s not like Baek could ever possibly feel the same way- 

“Chan?”

Snap out of it. Chanyeol relaxed his hands, realizing he had been digging his fingernails into his thighs without noticing, and turned his head to a concerned-looking Kyungsoo. He smiled at his roommate for a moment, but ended up averting his eyes and staring down at the audition form on his lap. Nothing to be worried about, it’s not like he’d never done this before. 

Yoongi stood at the foot of the stage and motioned for everyone to be quiet. “When your name is called, please bring your audition form to me, pick up a script, and read the part you are assigned until further said. Most of you will read about two or three times and be dismissed.” He smiled a little and offered encouraging words. “Thank you all for coming. It’s alright to be nervous, and we don’t expect you to perform the way you would for an actual show. But remember to look up, project, and enunciate you words. Break a leg everyone!”

The buzz of excited young boys was now gone, replaced by a silent anxiety, shared by most of the students. Chanyeol gulped and forced himself to sit back, closing his eyes and waiting for his name to be called. If this was a rehearsal, he could have easily drifted off by now, comforted by his surroundings, the shuffling of scripts, the softly dimmed lights focusing on the action onstage. The first years were always called up first, all auditioning until the oldest third and fourth years were left for the final readings. He sat slouched, with his hands on his stomach, his anxiety calmed more or less from the 90 minutes he just spent on finishing his homework out of boredom. 

“Baekhyun, go grab a script and please read for Juliet. Act 2, scene 2” Chanyeol looks up to see Yoongi beckoning the boy over, and he hands in his audition form before grabbing a script from the table and flipping pages as he made his way up the front steps. Chanyeol smirked, realizing the directors were considering his friend for a female part.

“Chaneyol, please read for Romeo.” 

Somewhere nearby, he hears Jongdae snort loudly and Kyungsoo snickers softly next to him. Any cockiness he had in him is officially shot as he feels the warmth spread in his cheeks and his knuckles becoming numb once again. Brushing his bangs out of his eyes, he shakily stands up and clears his throat. Sliding past his friends could not have been worse, all of them giving him suggestive glances. Damn his big ass mouth. It’s not like he would tell any of them how he felt about Baek, but it was almost as if they could see right through him…

Motherfuck.

After straightening his back and handing his form to Yoongi, he too found himself a script and nervously flipped to the right page. Chanyeol slowly walked to stand next to his best friend, who offered a reassuring grin and mouthed 'good luck' to him. He nodded to him and glanced at the director, making sure their teacher was looking up. After a nod of approval from him and Yoongi, Chanyeol looked down into the book, scanning the foreign words. Chanyeol took a deep breath and began reading. 

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap I literally wrote the first chapter TWO MONTHS AGO AASJHDGAKJHDF I'm so sorry I suck as a human being.

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you guys know, this particular fic is going to be mostly Exo focus with some Bangtan in between the lines, but I eventually plan on writing a seperate BTS focused fic with a similar plot line just for shits and giggles. Also I'm not sure if I'll do it, but I want to alternate POV between Baek and Chan so look out for that(?)
> 
> I already know this is going to be a huge mess, but all you shitheads please bear with me because I am planning some big stuff for this fic.


End file.
